The Portland daily press., 1887-02-07
SAD SCENES
At the Place OF the FrIgntfuI Acci-
danf

| - AttO FtdCO VI kttO EFtktlLIut ACCI~
| dent.
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Feb. 6.-Proba-
bly, 5000 people visited the scene Of the rail
road accident today. No trains have been
run except to accommodate officials and for
carrying the wounded and the dead. All
manner Of conveyances have been brought
| into requisition, many teams coming from
| 40 and so miles distant and eentering here in
long procession. Seven or eight bodies
| have been identified by friends, and many
| heartrending scenes have been witnessed.
| 1t is utterly impossible to identify more
| ten or twelve Of those recovered, the cloth
| ing being entirely gone, and the bodies burn
| ed to crisp. Conductor Sturtevant died to-
| day, and his body was taken home by spe-
| cial train. Mr.. Tewksbury of Randolph,
| whose leg and arm were broken, was taken
home last night by special train, and is re-
| ported doing well.
Except those wounded, all remain here as
reported last night. Arrangements have
been completed for sending all freight via
Wells River or the Rutland road until the
new trestle, which was begun today, Is COM
pleted. All passenger trains from points
north Of Montpelier. are to 60 via Wells
River road, while for local points between
here and there arrangements for transferring
with little delay are made: The damage to
rolling stock Is estimated at $4,000. A
wooden bridge, like the old one, will cost
$4,000, but will probably be rebuilt with
iron, costing $4,000. The money loss to the
road from interruption to travel will be large
besides the losses Of human life. The work
of recovering the wreckage and bodies has
been pushed vigorously all day, the ruins
have been minutely searched and probably
all haye been recovered that can be. The
iron work of the cars has all been pulled over
and cleared away. The total number OF
bodies recovered today is five, one woman
and four men. Drs. Grinnell and Bingham
of Burlington, have today thoroughly exam
ined the charred remains Of the victims thus
far recovered for the purpose Of
ascertaining the number, and report
it to be up to this morning Just q, which
with the five found today make it 80, the
total recovered thus far This statement Is
verified by Lieutenant Governor Fuller, who
is doing everything in his power for all the
sufferers. He has been instrumental in es-
tablishing bureau Of information. All
communications regarding passengers should
be addressed to Henry Il. TinkeH Station
Agent, White River Junction, Vt. Mr.. Full |
ler also endorses the statement that from all
the information Obtainable at this time from
connecting road ticket agents and survivors
of the-disaster it is believed that the total
number Of souls ON board Of the Inflated
train when it went down, including train
men, was only 81 of which 80 are accounted
for as above and 36 in care of the surgeons,
wounded, one of which died today, and nine
went along on the same train as the unin-
JulCu, iCdNlLS Oull lOdt uuttICOunbEu lOls IL
Is understood there were some children
without tickets which may slightly change |
the above figure. Every article of clothing, |
scrap of paper or other things which may |
have been upon any passenger Is being care
fully saved and written up for the purpose Of |
Identification, and parties having friends un- |
accounted for will be afforded every means |
or clue TO Identification Of the lost or un- |
known. The best of police protection has |
been given from the first.
Some of the wreck is roped off for many |
feet and no one but workmen and interested |
known parties are allowed inside. 1t Is be- |
lieved thus far no thieving or rowdyism has |
occurred
Little idea can be had of the difficulties in |
the way of obtaining report Of the terrible |
railroad accident Of yesterday, that shall |
give the public correct idea of the condition |
of things there. At the time of the accident |
and ever since the thermometer has regis |
tered from 80 to 15o below zero, and the suffer- |
ing from cold was intense. There are only |
two or three farm houses within two miles /
OF the wreck, and these are filled with the |
wounded. The others are scattered along /
for three or four miles with no means Of /
communication except by train. All the /
road officials are on the ground and every /
thing possible is being done for the Ound-
ed and dead Hundreds Of people searching
for friends are here and nearly every news
paper in New England has representative
at the scene of the wreck. Work was sus-
peRded at dark last night owing TO the Sc
verify of the weather, but was resumed this
morning. The water in the White River, at
the place OF the accident, is not more than
five or six feet deep, with but little current.
and the ice Is, perhaps, fourteen inches
thick. The falling of the cars upon 1t, and
the heat of the fire melted the ice sufficiently
TO let portions of the wreck fall through.
The fire burned all above the ice clean, but
little of the personal effects Of the passen-
gers being left to reveal the identity OF their
owners.
- - - 1
the conductors OF the incoming and con-
Meeting trains, largely reduces the number
of persons on the train Conductor Andrew
Bean of the Boston & Lowell road gives the
exact number Of tickets taken up for points
beyond the accident as 36, of which 16 were
in the car pilgrim" from Boston. Conduc-
tor Barrett, of the Connecticut River road,
counts his at just 80, II Of these being in the
car ''St Albans" from Springfield. This
leaves 3, only very few who probably came came
here, probably not exceeding ten in all, be-
sides what railroad men were on the train.
Of these 35 are accounted for as among the
wounded, and the number Of those in the
smoker is variously estimated from 40 to GO.
Charles II. Pierce of this place, engineer
of the wrecked train, Is about 80 years old,
has been in the roads employ as engineer
Ia years, and Is considered one OF its most
faithful employees. All accounts agree with
his that, although the train was about an
hour late, and had been running perhaps 30
miles an hour, yet at the time of the acci-
dent he had slowed up TO about Is or 20 miles
an hour, as is the usual custom in crossing |
long bridges. No blame whatever is at
tached to him, and after the accident both he
and Fireman Thrasher of St. Albans rem
pered heroic and efficient aid in rescuing
passengers.
Pierce proceeded to st. Albans with
his engine and the rest of the |
train, after all had been done that could be |
and plenty of help had arrived. He is now |
at st. Albans in an exhausted condition. In |
room 80 at the Junction House is Andrew |
Wheeler, about 80 years old, with a bad cut |
over his eye, bruised all over and somewhat |
burned, but not fatally hurt. He says ne is |
employed at the Derby House, Fitchburg,
and was en- route to Montreal ON an excur-
sion. He was in the first passenger car, and
thinks there were about 25 others there. He
remembers nothing after the crash until fire
came near and help from outside relieved his
foot, which had been pinioned under the
wreck, just in season to prevent serious
burning. He has no knowledge as to the
circumstances of the wreck and did not
suffer seriously from cold.
Joseph Jacques of Fitchburg Is in room 26
at the Junction House, suffering from a
broken leg, broken nose, and serious bruises
on the body. One foot was somewhat